American Idol Episode 6 : Dallas Auditions

Was Dallas Le-Gen-Dary?

Not quite, but it was pretty good. This episode of American Idol showed us a lot more good than bad and it was nice to not have to sit through excruciatingly bad auditions . And hey Dallas is also where Kelly Clarkson was discovered, so who knows, this year's Idol could come from here.

Neil Patrick Harris is guest judge for Day 1 in Dallas. You'll remember him as Doogie from Doogie Howser MD and more recently as Barney, the star of hit sitcom 'How I Met Your Mother'. LOL, but Randy and Simon would have preferred to have Richard Simmons (the exercise guy? seriously?) or Clint Eastwood as guest judges - fat hopes guys.

"My goal today is to shatter the dreams of thousands. If I can make two or three dozen people cry, I'll feel like I've done my job." Snarky snarky NPH. But I likey.

Kara looked gorgeous in red today and back to normal (not fake-tanned like yesterday), producers should NOT sit her next to something as white as Katy Perry ever again. I'm hoping Katy Perry comes back as a judge - maybe next year when Simon's not around, she can take Simon's chair? Some people say that chair needs a Gene Simmons - I say nay. Not the tongue guy from KISS. Veteran yes, but I don't think I can spend an entire season watching/listening to him - not charming enough imo. Sir Paul McCartney perhaps?

Who would YOU like to see take over Simon's role?

Midway through the show, they had this funny segment. Ah, life as Simon Cowell IS tough isn't it?

And before I head on to the other auditionees, guest judge for Day 2 is heartthrob Joe Jonas. The middle Jonas Bro was just total eye candy. He was mostly polite and smiley, but he wasn't given very much airtime. Oh well, dun matter, whatever face time we got of him was lovely! :)

Ok, on to the auditionees...

BAD....

Julie Kevelighan

7 years ago, Simon told her to get a lawyer to sue her singing teacher. She has since taken more singing lessons, acting lessons, makeup lessons (and I'm guessing styling lessons). Not willing to give up, she kept singing even as she was escorted out by security. Taking a leaf from Simon, I say hire a team of lawyers and sue all them teachers.

Dexter Ward

Declared to cam that he would be "I am. The Next. America's Idol". LOL. Did he try out for Next Top Model before this or been to so many auditions he's forgotten which reality show he's on? OMG and the winking! You guys have to watch this again...

But laughter aside, so poor thing la watching him cry outside.

Vanessa Johnston

If there's anything called OVERpositivity I think this girl would be it. Dressed head (big flowerball AND pink eyeshadow) to toe in fuchsia (not regular pink), she shouted, no, yelled out 'At Last' totally offkey - Etta James was probably doing flips in her grave. It was seriously painful to watch (and hear).

Iffy for me.

Erica Rhodes

Yesterday producers trailed that Barney was in the audition room. Chey! No one came in dressed up as Barney. Erica was one of the kids on Barney & Friends and OMG my kids watch Barney and I actually recognise her! She came in dressed as a dominatrix to make an impression, she kept saying she wants to show people that Barney kids do grow up (to which NPH said "to be dirty little girls!" LOL!). Her voice was just okay to me, and I think she got in more on her personality. I think our girls did a better rendition of En Vogue's 'Free Your Mind', minus the whip ;)

Good

Dockworker Lloyd Thomas impressed with Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed". He has a personality but it didn't really come through when he sang, but he has a good voice and can sing. I don't know if he'll make it through Hollywood week. He was Simon's favourite audition of the day.

Kimberley Carver

Impressed with an original song and managed to win over everyone except Simon. She reminded me a little of Kelly Clarkson, but her vocals are nowhere near Kelly's.

Dave Pittman

He has Tourette's Syndrome. I thought he was gonna spew obscenities at any moment, but luckily his Tourettes's ticks are more of facial ticks and clearing of the throat. Miraculously, the Tourette's doesn't affect him when he's singing and he has a great clear voice. He's very likeable and genuine. NPH says he's "crazy brave". Definitely one of my favourites, and Simon thought he was 'terrific' and that 'people are gonna like him'.

Todrick Hall

Interesting name, interesting original song. He wrote it specifically for the show and it was kinda cute. Spoilers on the net say he's made it to the Top 24. Lets see if thats true, but he does have that 'seh' (quality) about him. His style reminded me of Craig David.

Maegan Wright

Blondie who bursts with sunshine with a heartwarming story about the bond between her and little brother Dawson after their parents divorced. She looked like she wasn't gonna be able to sing, but she surprised me (and the judges) with her touching rendition of Adele's 'Make You Feel My Love'. The girl is good, she doesn't try too hard and she's going to Hollywood.

Christian Spear

Last audition for Dallas and its a sob story comin' up (hrm do I see a pattern?). At 16, Christian is an 8-year cancer survivor. She got leukimia at 4 yrs old and went into remission at 8. She was pretty good. Her voice reminded me a lot of Tabitha's. :)

31 from Dallas are going to Hollywood. My favourites are Maegan Wright and Todrick Hall.

Next week, it's the last audition city - Denver. Guest judge : Victoria Beckham...again. I'm hoping to see a little less nerves and a little more personality from her (and ixnay the acelay*). Hopefully we'll be done with Denver on Wednesday and go straight to Hollywood on Thursday and see Ellen in action! Then again, with a title like 'Road To Hollywood', I'm kinda expecting Thursday's show to be a recap of the audition cities with just a teaser for actual Hollywood week at the end - fingers crossed I'm wrong.

Ok, off to check on my son! (yes folks, I'm camped out at my son's school, keeping an eye on him, while writing this review)

xoxo, s.

*nix the lace.

American Idol Day! LA Auditions!

Yesterday LA, TODAY Dallas.

Its 3.30am and I've just managed to watch today's (Wednesday's) telecast of American Idol, no thanks to some wonky stuff going on with my recorder. Lucky for me, I had a back up recording in the other room!

I was really looking forward to the LA Auditions, mostly because I wanted to see how Avril and Katy would do as judges. I mean, we've all seen Posh and Mary J. choke, and then there was Shania who seemed the best fit followed by a giggly Kristin Chenoweth who didn't turn up for Day2 of the Orlando auditions (the show declares she had to go back to New York presumably for work, but 'sources' say she was 'sent' back/judging duties cut short cos she annoyed Simon too much). So how would two very young entertainers like Lavigne and Perry fair?

I have to say, not bad. Apart from Avril's slightly whiny (and er, 'young') way of speaking, she was present and contributing (apparently her age is what makes her a relevent judge cos she's young enough to 'audition, so she knows how it feels'). Her devil-eared hoodie and the jangling of her jewellery every time she spoke was kinda distracting for me, but hey she's Avril Lavigne. She's actually very pretty. I expected her to be more angsty and 'angry' but she was smiley and bubble-gummy (she was literally chewing gum the whole time). Not really worth of the seat imo.

Katy Perry was entertaining to watch from the get-go. Gorgeous to a fault in a huggy peach dress that showed off her assets (so much so that a creepy guy pointed it out), she stuck by her opinions and didn't get steamrolled by anyone, especially Kara (whassup with the cattiness though Katy? Are you a Kara-hater too?). Unfortunately for Kara though, Katy's snow white complexion (seriously, she looked like Snow White with the 'skin white as snow, lips red as the rose and hair as dark as ebony - I'm quoting the Magic Mirror here), Kara's tan, looked orange and super fake (even if it was real). Every time there was a two-shot of them, I was like 'ugh, Kara needs to un-tan', such a departure from last season when I used to feel, 'ugh, Paula needs to un-tan' (Kara seemed pale next to her).

Ok, so lets review the show and the auditionees shall we?

Opening shot of this week's episode is of Ryan in his radio studio, with the big 'On-Air with Ryan Seacrest' logo right behind him. Well-played Seacrest - plug your radio show on your tv show :) I really take my hat off to this guy, he's got all his fingers in every pie, and each pie complements the next - its f*rking GENIUS I tell you! He's got his LA morning radio show (its daily), he does American Top 40 (a weekly countdown show, that's syndicated internationally), he's got American Idol (twice weekly, in a few weeks it'll be thrice), he owns his own production company (Ryan Seacrest Productions) and produces tv shows (mostly celeb/reality shows like Keeping Up With The Kardashians on E! (psst!its addictive :P) and Denise Richards reality show; he's got a dating reality show comin' up and even something with Paris Hilton), he's got his daily duties at E! where he helms E! News Live (daily shows + the weekend bumper edition!) AND he has time to like sometimes host big shows like a Disney Christmas Parade (big deal type show) and the Emmys (hello, even bigger deal).

He's 36 this year people. Overachiever hor. Does he even SLEEP?

Oh and plus he's like on Twitter ALL the time - I'm now beginning to think he's got a PA to tweet for him, but then again, some of the stuff he posts (like in reply to his celeb friends) are quite personal - he's probably attached to his Blackberry (or T-Mobile Sidekick, if AI sponsors AT&T gave him one).

Stalk him here, his website is awesome for BTS stuff on AI, PLUS he twitpics!!!

Sorry got so sidetracked with Ryan, I'm so in awe of how he is so productive 24/7, 365 days of the year. Now on to the show. Lets list Good vs Evil (ok, just BAD).

Bad/Strange/Weird/Creepy

Neil Goldstein

First guy up, says he's got an IQ of 168 - sure not? Sang 'Remember Everything That I Told You' and ironically forgot the lyrics after the first line. Refused to accept the 'no's he was doled and when told he needed a reality check said, 'There is no reality than that which we make for ourselves' wth?

Some really offkey singers not really worth mentioning, but since I wrote their names down might as well - Jayson Wilson, Jesse Chang (seriously cliched, Asian guy singing 'Kung Fu Fighting' *face palm*) and Martin Perez.

And then, we meet Damian Lefavor.

Martial arts enthusiast. I think he's watched Jackie Chan's 'Drunken Master' move one time too many. His 'moves' were nowhere near Jackie's or Bruce's but at least he realised it when he choked, and left without much of a fight - kungfu or otherwise :)

A.J. Mendoza

Bad Glambert impressionist. Apparently he got two thumbs up from Lambert himself after he sent him a demo tape. Point is, he only sounded good after I turned my tv volume down a few notches. But after I did that I couldn't hear what the judges were saying. Anyway I was so distracted by his 'fringe' flicking - every few seconds he would flick his fringe - I wanted to clip it up with one of Scarlett's (The Daughter) gazillion clips.

Austin Fullmer.

Guy with the PVC red and black shirt. Calls himself 'sexually open'. OMG. Walking pillar of raging hormones much? R-rated a bit. Even Katy Perry said "I'm scared. Do they frisk these people?"But actually, his face isn't too bad. He's just a bit skinny. Next Top Model Homme maybe? He'd provide loads of drama Tyra. I'm seriously waiting for Tyra to do America's Next Top Male Model. (Btw, if you watched Idol on Ch5, you woulda missed Katy Perry's intro vid which you can see in this vid below. Hrm, wonder why Ch5's censors cut it out? 'kissed a girl and I liked it?')

Jason Greene.

Creepy long-haired guy who was, erm, creepy. I quote Katy Perry, "You make me feel...dirty." Hrm, Katy's turning out to be pretty quote-worthy :)

The Good.

Jim Ranger. Cue sob story #1. Producers feature him with his three cute kids. He's also a pastor. I don't see the 'sob' much considering he has a huge house with a pool table. But he says life is busy, but he loves his kids. Okay. He sang an original called 'Drive' and it was good. He's on to Hollywood. I don't get why Avril said 'no' to this guy - just to create drama? Just cos he has a family? Loads of successful singers have families wat.

Mary Powers.

Short hair, eyeliner, rock chick get-up, sang Pat Benatar's 'Love Is A Battlefield'. Kudos to her for actually pulling this song off, remember the 'tv host' who tried this song too - way to major fail on that one. Mary got four YESes and her 8 year old got to meet her hero - Simon Cowell :) so cute. Simon's my hero too.

Andrew Garcia.

Cue sob story #2. The guy had ex-gangmember parents who gave it all up and moved to the burbs to save him and his brother. He doesn't look like he's in a gang, but he does have tatts across his neck (ouch!), but he also has this adorable son - SO CUTE! So he's doing this to hopefully support his family. His audition - superb. Sang 'Sunday Morning' and it was awesome. I totally loved it and fell in love with him. Go Andrew! Loved his tone too, reminded me of Airi.

I found these vids on youtube of Andrew Garcia. Love the Sunday Morning one in the playground (second vid below).



Tasha Layton

"PA by day, Minister by night". Doesn't look 26. She actually looks a little bit like my fave Gilmore Girl Lauren Graham. She sang Joss Stone's 'Baby Baby Baby' and I have to say, it was kinda cool, cos I didn't expect that song to sound good without Joss' raspy low voice. It wasn't bad. I wonder if she'll go all 'hallelujah' on us as the show progresses - nah, doubt it, she doesn't seem the loopy-religious type.

Chris Golightly

Cue third and final sob story for the night. Orphaned at 18 months and has been through 25 foster homes, music has been his only constant. And the boy can sing. Throughout the show, producers have been trailing that we'll be 'blown away' by this afro-ed guy, but I think all the over-promotion worked against him. He got four YESes, but Katy and Simon gave him small 'y's and I wasn't too blown away either. Kara and Randy put him through with big Ys. He kinda has a Justin Guarini vibe (and its more than just the hair, maybe its cos he looks mix-raced too).

Production slip-ups! Oops!

Did you notice the two boo-boos I did?

The first one was glaringly obvious that producers had Neil come back twice in the same outfit - he had super long hair in some shots and then short hair in some. If you don't want people to realise there's a 'culling' round, you need conty (continuity)!

Later on, they spliced up 'bad auditions' footage together for 'Day 1' but there was a wide shot that showed Katy in the judging seat instead of Avril. Tsk.

And I thought things like that don't happen on American productions - cos they're so pro and y'know, sticklers for quality etc. So far their editing has been seamless and fast-paced. Oh well, we're all human right producers? So next time our own producers slip up, close one eye la.

Oh and did you see the Judges arriving via helicopter on Day 2? Totally agree with Katy Perry "Ridiculous." American Idol definitely has $$$ to burrrrn man, give us (Singapore Idol) some la, since we all in the 'idol' family right? And having the A-Team theme song play when the helicopter landed just added to the cheese - tsk.

Ok so, all in all only 23 made it through in LA (so little right?). The standouts for me were Andrew Garcia (can you tell? hehe) and Chris Golightly (I wonder if he's named for Holly Golightly, and if he is, is it the singer or Audrey Hepburn's character from Breakfast at Tiffany's).

Lets see how the Dallas auditions go....with guest judges Joe Jonas (also young enough to relate?) and Neil Patrick Harris (he's my great big hope for one-liners today)...perhaps it will be...say it with me....Le-Gen-Dary....

Nite y'all! (wahlao 5am liao!)

xoxo, s.

ps. If you watched Idol on Channel 5, you may have caught an ad for 'Nursing as a profession' featuring Haizad Imran, Top 30 for Singapore Idol Season 1 and familiar face on Suria. He's still as cute as ever.

pps. Had to squeeze this last vid in, its for an upcoming show produced by Ryan Seacrest's production company and it features my fave chef ever cos he's so adorable and so kind (yes kind!) Jamie Oliver! Watch! Channel 5, please buy this show can?

American Idol Episode 4 (Orlando) : Live Blog

Orlando, Where Your Dreams Come True!

Welcome to American Idol episode 4, the Orlando auditions! I love how the show opens with DisneyWorld shots, cos really, thats what I think of when I think Orlando (apart from the heat and humidity).

Last night I said I thought I saw diamante stuck on someone's face. O.M.G. the guy has GLASS CIRCLES GLUED to his face on one side. Its the same shiny stuff thats on his scarf. Sorry that it didn't work out sista. At least he took the rejection gracefully...

Comin' up, producers promises stories and voices that will move us. Can't wait. Now to enjoy Glee trailers hehe. And...we're back! OMG Gargoyle! Chicken! Wth!

I am so lovin' Kristin Chenoweth! Her 'sister-act' with Kara is annoying the hell out of Simon :) LOL!

Ok, cue sob stories.

Story #1 : Guy with kid with autism. Aiyo that kid is SUPER cute! Oh no, he 'wants to go with Daddy!' (sounds like my son!). Whoa. This guy can sing. And you can tell he's singing from the heart. Great song choice Gershwin's 'Someone To Watch Over Me'. And of course he goes to Hollywood!

Back from the break, and the theme for Orlando seems to be about 'making dreams come true' ala Disney. Oooh another Jermaine and he's awesome good. I love his laidback style and confidence. Now THIS is the way 'Smile' should be sung. Very very sweet. And, he's off to Hollywood.

Sob story #2 : Shelby Dressel, the girl who's right side of the face is frozen.

From her speaking voice, she sounds like she's got a good voice. Awesome. She got 4 yeses. Her vocals were cool. She sang a Norah Jones song and she had a smokey quality to her voice. And you hardly even notice her 'disability' , just looks like her style of singing out of one side of her mouth. She's actually quite pretty. Hopefully she'll be able to get over her nerves and step it up a notch to survive Hollywood Week.

Back from the break, and Day 2 of the Orlando auditions begin. Aww, no Kristin (she had to head back to NYC) :( I really liked her.

OMG Beatboxer! Charlie are you watching this!

Jay Stone is cool...he beatboxes and sings too. I just have to say Charlie did it first! Did we just one-up the Americans? Cos according to Mr Stone, he's bringin' something new to the Idol stage - simultaneously singing and beatboxing (which is what Charlie did) - because Blake Lewis (the first beatboxer on Idol who made it to runner-up) never did that. Lucky for Jay Stone, Kara said yes and then rallied Randy for a yes too.

Next up are a coupla lovely girls with great singing voices. But the one that got me ROTFLMAO is the guy who did a split jump and SPLIT HIS PANTS....and...THAT got him a Golden Ticket to Hollywood! Good strategy boy!

Blonde/brunette sisters Bernadette and Amanda look very styled. Their teeth are so white. I want my teeth to be that white. Blondie Bernadette goes first and she's pretty good. Brunette Amanda goes next and to be honest she's not as good as big sister. Producers trailed earlier that Simon said yes to Bernadette and no to Amanda.....

Woot! Both girls go through thanks to Kara and Randy. Again, we've been bamboozled by creative editing - hah! love it!

This next guy in his plaid shirt looks like a nervous fidgety Eminem-wannabe? Singing a really painful (wait, can it be called singing?) version of Amazing Race, seems like a no-brainer to me, N.O. Sorry, Jarrod. And since he insists on not leaving, security had to intervene, out came the handcuffs! Thats gotta be a first on American Idol.

Back from the final break, we meet Matt Lawrence, the last sob story of the day. His hero to zero story was that he robbed a bank with a BBgun when he was 15, and spent four birthdays behind bars for larceny. He's hoping to redeem himself by going on American Idol to make his family proud.

Matt's song 'Trouble' seems pretty apt, and he's singing it with tons of heart. OMG, Simon said 'Brilliant'...twice! He said he was very 'impressed' and that it was 'authentic'. Randy said 'genuine'. Kara said 'One of the best'. Dark horse maybe?

And thats a wrap for tonight. Only 31 contestants made it through out of the tens of thousands that showed up at Orlando. Next week it's LA with guest judges Katy Perry and Avril Lavigne.

So how were this week's shows? Did you enjoy the Chicago and Orlando auditions? Spot any bright stars so far? Leave your comments below. The only two so far that have really stood out for me are the two Jermaines. I'm not a big country person, so those don't really move me, but there seem to be a fair bit of country crooners this season (in fact, more with each season since Carrie Underwood's win).

Anyway, show's over for now, do comment!

xoxo, s.

Gorgeous Tabby by Duane Ho

Isn't she lovely.......

The pic says it all right? Click to enlarge.

Thats Tabby for you right there, fresh, authentic, natural and gorgeous. Kudos to Duane Ho for such a great picture - I love how its so calm and reflective. Btw, if you remember, in Duane's profile, he did say he's into photography ;)

More pics Duane!

One more update : Sylvia Ratonel's YouTube Channel has officially been launched...check it out here. Oh, and how's this for irony, SylSyl's using a Motorola her tweets come from 'MotoBLUR'...hello....perfect much? BLURest Idol-we-love right using MotoBLUR? So cute hor! Its like the perfect app for her. Don't forget to drop by Iluma Bugis this weekend (Sat and Sun)to catch SylSyl in action - 5pm.

Okie dokes, thats it for tonight, catch you tomorrow for American Idol 9 episode 4 - Orlando!

Nitey nite folks!

xoxo, s.

ps. In case you've missed the gazillion tweets and my previous post - catch Farhan and his band heregoesnoth!ng at the Esplanade (Concourse) tomorrow & Friday, 7pm - 8.45pm. Support local music y'all!

American Idol Episode 3 (Chicago) : Live Blog

Are you watching Ep3 of American Idol right now? So am I!

I'm watching the Channel 5 10.30pm telecast in Singapore. What about you? Add your comments below if you're watching too.

I've just watched Katelyn Epperly. The blondie who says she's got lots of problems at home sang a Duffy song. Not bad. She was heavily promoted at the end of last week's episode, but her audition was just so-so - creative promo editing truly works. Simon so obviously liked her. Not the best we've seen, but she looks like she could be Top 24 material.

And we're back from commercial break with a big girl who has a BIG CRUSH on Ryan Seacrest....and OMG she just collapsed! OMG a 'boob-flex' that was ...surreal. I wonder ifthe term 'boob-boxing' is going to catch on....hope not.

Oooh, I'm liking Charity Vance, just 16! Reminds me of Pixie Lott, in that she's unique and unconventional.

I have to say, Shania is a pretty good judge! Thank gawd! She's not afraid to voice her opinions, gives constructive criticism and doesn't look nervous, fidgety or stoned :)

Back from the break, we're now treated to the duds. Someone actually walked in with a crown thats higher than her hairsprayed hair. OMG there's a bride. Wth?

Next up is Angela Martin, who tried out in Season 7 and made it as far as Hollywood week but got cut there. This after flying out there just a week after her father was killed. Super sob story here. Plus it looks like she has a kid who needs special care. She's 28 but looks 20. Imo, her song choice was perfect to reflect her tough life, but her voice didn't blow me away. All four judges give her the greenlight, lets see if she can make it to the Top 24 this time.

Day 2 in Chicago its dud after dud after dud not worth mentioning. Aw man, this last one is whimpering as he walks out. Aiyo so chaaam. Sigh, crushed dreams are aplenty on AI...

oooh John Park. I likey. Token asian doin' good perhaps?

Woot! Lovin' John Park's voice, but he may just be crushed at Hollywood week. And Shania seems a little whip-happy with her shirt er strings. Again, best guest judge so far. :) And YES the Asian is through. Ooh and you know what I like even better, his friends are a mixed group :)

Ah, stay tuned for another sob story after the break...

Paige Dechausse, 21, almost died from an athsma attack when she was younger. Doctors said she only had a 40% chance of survival and even if she survived she would have brain damage. Well, she's alive and well and auditioning for Idol. Her singing was kinda boring actually, but I think her story moved Shania and Kara alot cos they manja-ed Randy into a 'yes' to get Paige to Hollywood. Hope she ups her game in Hollywood.

OMG Keith Semple reminds me of Keith Urban plus Bryan Adams. Nice.

And thats the end of tonight's hour of Idol. Tomorrow, we head to Orlando, and I think guest judge will be Kristin Chenoweth. (You may remember Kristin from her stint on the West Wing, but probably more from her offbeat tv series Pushing Daisies. This girl can sing, and if you've watched Glee, you'll remember her as Mr Schuester's old high school crush April Rhodes whom he recruits to join the Glee Club).

So was the Live Blogging something interesting for you? Or no big deal? Better if I did it at 6pm with StarWorld's first tx or would you prefer to just follow tweets and then a review later? Leave me your comments, would love to hear from ya.

Ok, so now that the show's over, here's some juicy American Idol gossip courtesy of AmericanIdol.net.

1. Taylor Swift looking to record 'Pants On The Ground' - seriously? LOL, can't wait to see this one happen. Here's the original pants on the ground - respect!

2. Simon Cowell to recruit Paula Abdul for his U.S. version of X Factor! - OMG. He is just diabolical. He's had it all planned right? I swear, its just so convenient its like he's got it all planned. He's already got great chemistry with Paula, viewers are comfortable (ok, this is subjective) watching them 'judge' together. Hats off to Simon man *cue applause*. According to AmericanIdol.net, Simon's also wooing his UK XFactor co-judge Cheryl Cole (who is super hawt btw) to judge on the US version. Definitely hawter than Randy Jackson any day of the week, X-Factor is already generating so much pre-publicity, how can it not work?

3. SPOILER ALERT *avert your eyes if you don't wanna know*

Again, courtesy of AmericanIdol.net (I swear this site is awesome, you guys should go there if you haven't already). Remember Skii-Bo-Ski from the Atlanta auditions? The guy who misspelled his own name on his jacket? Tsk. Anyway, apparently he got cut before he could arrive in Hollywood because he had a run in with the law :

"Skii Bo Ski who wowed the judges with his “Heard it through the Grapevine” rendition has been cut from Hollywood week due to his arrests for possession of marijuana and cocaine and intent to distribute. Apparently he was released from jail a week before he was to be in Hollywood and the producers got wind of the situation and had him cut. "

source : AmericanIdol.net

Can't wait for tomorrow's Orlando auditions. The people there look hot (literally, like sweaty and stringy-haired/shiny-faced from the humidity) and raring to go, plus there was a quick shot of a guy in a lilac veil with makeup and were those diamante bling stickers on his face? And as usual, parting shots of someone bleeping his way out while being by security :) ...so drama. I swear, I'm such a big fan of the seamless editing and obviously milked-to-the-bone-dry promos. See you tomorrow!

xoxo, s.

Singapore Idol Updates

Quickie Update on our own Idols...

Am camped outside my son's class, he's 2 and a half by the way, in case you think I'm at some primary school. And no I'm not leeching off their internet .....I have a dongle. (@tabithagizelle and @duaneho, one day I will get a BERSCHKAdongle! Note to self, must write to Berschka and ask them to sell dongles)

Update #1a :

Amira's performing at Esplanade today (19th Jan) and tomorrow (20th Jan) with her show choir.

Update #1b :

Farhan and his band heregoesnoth!ng will also be performing at the Esplanade. Check them out at Esplanade Concourse, Thursday (21st Jan) and Friday (22nd Jan), 7.00pm to 8.45pm.

Update #2 :

Sylvia's performing this weekend at Iluma Bugis. Saturday & Sunday (23rd/24th Jan) at 5pm for the launch of Motorola's new phone. Check her out!

Update #3 :

Singapore Idol Airi met up with music execs from Universal over the weekend when he booked out from camp and alls goin' well. From what I hear, they're still on track for an April/May album launch - so yippeeee! As we already know, Airi submitted like 10 songs to Universal to consider for the album, word is, they likey some. So the album will be a mix of his own stuff and some new stuff they'll be recording with him! I'm excited, are you?

And now, for some Idol video updates!

Video #1

Check out our boys Faizal and Duane.

This is Jay Sean's 'Down'. Love the harmonies.

Video #2

This is their second vid together ;) and a little more 'produced' haha. Good job boys. I like the whole vid. Very cute! I'm surprised you guys didn't do the 'elevator' trick...

Enjoy (cos I did :))


Don't you just love 'em? So cute la. Duane boy, love your voice in this one :)

Video #3

This one's been on Youtube for a while now. Justin recorded this at one of the sessions at Ann Hussein's place. I had no idea it was recording sound, and I think neither did Izked. You can hear him talking and me laughing on and off, we were right next to these crazy people. Aaah I miss those days!

Photo updates

(courtesy of @izked's tweetphotos and FannaOsman's FBpics)
Just on Sunday, our very own blonde prawn-lover Farhan Shah threw a fan bash for his fabulous fans. I dropped by unglamourously early, was told it was 4pm, so I strolled in at 4.30pm thinking I'd be fashionably late, only to be told, 'eh supposed to be 6pm la' *Fail*. Oh and get this, I was also told it was a belated bday party, wahlao, I musta been the only one toting a pressie and a card. No matter, Farhair, you likey rrriiiight??

Thanks to the lovely @FANNAosman for sharing her pics with me (and everyone reading this too! btw I had no idea what your pretty friend's name is thus the nick Pretty Young Thing (PYT). :))

Idol Day tomorrow wheeeeeeeeee!

xoxo, s.

Touched By An Angel - The Ch5 Montage

For all your Idol fans out there :)

Sorry peeps, I know its been a while but I've been struck down by a really bad case of koff and a nose I can't catch. Anyhooo...

This has been airing on Channel 5, but we can't be waiting all hours just to catch it right? So I dropped a note to a very special intern at Ch5 and lo and behold, here it is, less than 12 hours later - thank you JameseyJames :)

Enjoy....

Hope to be up and raring either today/tomorrow. But this vid was too good not to post...

miss Idol, miss the Idols, miss YOU guys tons.

xoxo, s.

ps. Oh and here's the previously 'blurred out' pic taken of Airi n SylSyl hamming it up at rehearsals for the finale. Unreleased til now heheh, and for the last time, they are not dating ;) they just good actors! Love this pic right? Can you feeel the chemistry? LOL!

Its IDOL DAY! Twice A Week!

American Idol Season 9 has begun!

If you're reading this, thank you for coming back to the blog after my one week hiatus (everyone needs a holiday right?). Its good to be back in front of the tv and just in time for the season premiere of American Idol. This show (and F.R.I.E.N.D.S.) has been the tv highlight of the year for me for the last 8 years (we didn't carry Season 1 in Singapore), so suffice it to say I'm super happy its back, especially after about 3 weeks of Singapore Idol withdrawal :)

So how was Episode 1?

If you're like me, a big fan who has cable and no job, you probably watched it at 6pm. ;) Apparently @izked, @syazaq and I were spamming twitter with our tweets while watching. Back to old times hey? Only sans the twitpics!

First thing the show addressed was Paula's non-presence. In August (or was it July?) last year, Paula announced that she would not be returning to the show. This after weeks of speculation that salary negotiations weren't going well. Adding to the blow back then was an announcement of both Ryan's and Simon's pay increases. Most notably Ryan's as his was an extended contract and a huge pay increase. So Paula, who stated before Season 8 began, that having a 4th judge was not a good idea, hung up her Idol shoes with a few really sweet tweets (yes she tweets!)...

"With sadness in my heart, I've decided not to return to Idol. I'll miss nurturing all the new talent, buut most of all being a part of a show that I helped from Day 1 become an international phenomenon. "

"What I want to say most, is how much I appreciate the undying support and enormous love that you have showered upon me. It truly has been breathtaking, especially over the past month. I do without any doubt have the BEST fans in the entire world and I love you all."

Sad huh? I'll be the first to admit although I didn't particularly love Paula, I enjoyed watching her have a go at Simon every so often. Last season, her role on the show seemed a bit overshadowed by the more 'technical' Kara - Paula seemed....unnecessary. But she's right though, she has been a part of the team that made the show what it was for the first 7 years. So for me, it was kinda weird to not see her on the show. But I got over that in like...7 minutes.

Thats when I became more fixated on Posh's super sunken cheek hollows and lacey headband - what is up with that? Someone on twitter said it looked like lacey underwear (tsk!).

Posh is the first of 8 celebrity guest judges who will be doing rotating duties over the next coupla weeks of auditions before Ellen (I can't wait!) steps in during Hollywood rounds. More on the AI9's season sked later on (scroll down if you wanna skip the review).

I was really looking forward to seeing how Victoria would handle her judging duties. She's actually pretty witty and sarcastic (have you ever watched her failed 'mockumentary' about her move to the US - google it, its on youtube somewhere). I've seen previous interviews of her (from my time in the UK) and she's actually quite smart - I like her sense of humour. Unfortunately none of that came through on tonight's show - what a pity. She seemed nervous actually.

Her first outfit made her look a bit like one of Tim Burton's animated characters, but I liked her second look. She looked fresher, despite being a bit on the skinny side - oh who am I kidding, she's the mayor of Skinny Town.

Simon Cowell's the same, first thing I noticed of the first few shots of him was how thin his white teeshirt was and how painfully obvious his man-nipples were. I tried not to notice them, look away even, but when I looked back they were still there, practically waving. My mantra this season will be NOT to notice Simon's na-nas. The na-nas aside, I still can't believe he's leaving the show (Simon announced recently that this is his last season with Idol as he'll be helming the US version of his very popular Brit show the X-Factor coming soon - he's judging as well as executive producing). Cowell is so much a part of what makes American Idol tick, I can't imagine what the show would be like without its resident bored baddie. Maybe they'll bring in Piers Morgan...or Hugh Laurie!

Back to the judges, Randy was his usual indecipherable self. I think he invents new phrases every season. What does 'great hang' mean? Its an audition, they weren't 'hangin' out' per se.

I'm a great fan of Kara. I liked her from the get-go - she's pretty, she's a talented song-writer, she makes sense when she speaks (to me at least) and she has the singing chops and experience to back her comments. I didn't realise that there was so much Kara-hate in the U.S., many find her annoying and self-righteous blablabla. Well, I donch care, I like Kara and am so glad to see her back on the show this season. I'm waiting to see how she and Ellen get along.

The Auditionees - The Good, The Bad & The Weird..

Good Two really standout talents imo were Ashley Rodriguez and Katie Stevens. Ashley sang 'If I Ain't Got You' and it was really good, plus, she looks like the total package type - pretty (super shiny hair) and can sing.

Katie Stevens had a backstory, her old grandma has Alzheimer's, so she's hoping to get through so that her grandma can see her sing and be proud before she totally forgets who she is. I'm a sucker for the heartwarming. This story totally reminded me of our very own Tabitha Nauser's story of her close relationship with her granddad, sumore same song! :) Oh and I love that they speak to each other in Portugese (hrm, I wonder if anyone's gonna play the race/nationality card here, probably not, cos she's AMERICAN, not Portugese - this is for the people who still can't get over Sylvia's Filipino heritage).

I've got my eye on those two, but I'm not sure if they'll last the voting rounds - they seem pretty shy, and we all know what happens to those with no personality - forgettable = no votes.

Others to note - Tyler Grady (the 70s styled drummer who fell out of a tree and broke both wrists) and Armadeo Diricco (this season's big lovable teddybear with a big voice, would love to join his family for a makan!). Also, Maddy Curtis, the girl with four Downs syndrome brothers, sang reasonably well, would love to see how she holds up at Hollywood rounds, and if she makes it through (which I doubt), her transformation with makeup.

Another auditionee reminded me of one of another one of our own. Joshua Blaylock sang 'Bless The Broken Road' which Teddy Teow sang on the piano show. He also seemed like a really sweet boy just like Theodore. Guess it takes a good boy to sing a song like that with heart.

Weird Clark Kent aka Andrew Folton (didn't quite catch his name) incurred the wrath of the judges with his 'sulky' attitude and 'bad energy'. Actually, I think the judges overreacted a bit. I mean, the guy apologised quite a few times and seemed to honestly not know what he was doing wrong. Initially I thought he was naturally geeky with those glasses, then I realised its possible he knows he's fairly good looking (did you see those biceps?) and that outfit was his 'look' for the day.

The other weird guy was the one that Simon called a '3 year old who dresses like LaToya Jackson'. Ouch! The guy (last name Guerrero) kept apologising cos he was so nervous, but I couldn't get past his hair. There was so much of it! He looked like Fran Drescher from The Nanny!

Bad Janet McNamara has mastered the American Idol video game. Yup. Video game. The video game judges love her. So that means, its time to try out for real. The video game manufacturers need to tweak the game or recall it altogether. Plus I think its affected her so much she kept calling Kara 'Paula'! Oh and get this, her idea of practicing is to jump. Sigh.

Mere Doyle the 'okasu' (I think thats the word I heard her say) claims to love singing, but she seems more into anime/cosplay. Despite having two vocal coaches, the girl still can't sing. Who are these vocal coaches? Maybe Kak Ann can help her?

Lisa Oliveiro came in normal, but her 'annoyance index' shot up when she said rather arrogantly that she'd been watching the show for years and knew she could sing better than everyone on the show. This big remark is followed by a painful rendition of Mariah's 'Vision Of Love' complete with hand gestures. Sweetie, at least Katrina Darrell could do the high notes reasonably well. I was waiting to see if Kara would say something, but she didn't (am surprised producers didn't cut to shots of Bikini Girl).

Last auditionee worth mentioning is a guy called Pat (din't catch his last name), who likes to 'holla'! :) So farnee. Turns out the guy can't really sing, I was hoping he would be one of those who would surprise us by being Josh Groban, but no, the boy decides to do Britney's 'Womaniser', not exactly the best song choice for a singing competition audition. He had some moves. But overall, painful.

So that was the premiere episode of American Idol. More audition footage to come from tonight's (its 4am on Thursday now) episode, when they go to Atlanta.

Here's the season's schedule (with telecast dates for Singapore) :

Audition rounds :

Jan 13 : Boston (guest judge : Victoria Beckham)

Jan 14 : Atlanta (guest judge : Mary J. Blige)

Jan 20 : Chicago

Jan 21 : Orlando

Jan 27 : Dallas

Jan 28 : Los Angeles

Feb 3 : Denver

Feb 4 : Road to Hollywood (probably a special/recap)

Other guest judges are as follows, didn't list above as I'm not sure yet which city they'll be guest-judging in :

Kristin Chenowith (4th pic), Neil Patrick Harris (3rd pic), Joe Jonas (1st pic), Avril Lavigne, Katy Perry and Shania Twain (2nd pic).

Once they get to the Hollywood rounds, Ellen Degeneres steps in.

Hollywood rounds :

Feb 10 : Hollywood round

Feb 11 : Hollywood round

Feb 17 : Hollywood round

Feb 18 : Hollywood round results - Top 24 (12 guys, 12 girls)

After this, we get Idol THREE TIMES A WEEK (Wednesdays & Thursdays for Performance Shows AND Fridays for Results Shows for the next 3 weeks!). Looks like producers have decided to revert to their previous elimination format of everyone perform instead of splitting it up into groups like they did last season.

Piano Show rounds :

Feb 24 : 12 girls perform

Feb 25 : 12 boys perform

Feb 26 : 2 girls, 2 boys go home, Top 20 remain.

Mar 3 : 10 girls perform

Mar 4 : 10 boys perform

Mar 5 : 2 girls, 2 boys go home, Top 16 remain.

Mar 10 : 8 girls perform

Mar 11 : 8 boys perform

Mar 12 : 2 girls, 2 boys go home, meet your American Idol Top 12 finalists.

Spectaculars :

At this point, we return to the twice-weekly schedule of Wednesdays performance shows and Thursdays results show. Wednesday March 17th will be the first LIVE Spectacular show :) And if my calculations are correct (and there are no 'extra' special episodes or breaks), the performance finale for American Idol should be happening on my birthday ;) , Wednesday 26th May, with Results on Thursday 27th May (pretty much roughly the same time every year).

Exciting not? I'm excited. My hubstation and mio TV sets are both set to 'record series' ...how about yours?

Ok, its past 4am, time for bed. Can't wait for today's episode. I wanna see how Mary J. Blige does as guest judge.

xoxo, s.

ps. 'Haters' are even more abundant for AI. Check out this pic of Katrina Derell, aka Bikini Girl from last season - check out the picture tags!